Ottoman Resurrection: the Prominence of the Pruth River War 1711

• Ottoman Resurrection: the Prominence of the Pruth River War 1711

  

     The Pruth River War was one of the significant warfares that influenced the “Ottoman Empire, Sweden, Russian Tsardom and Europe“. In the sense of Ottomans, the agreements of “Karlowitz and Istanbul“ had negatively impacted the Ottoman Empire in the early 18th century. The melting of diplomatic hegemony towards European Monarchs demolished the belief in Ottoman immortality. In contrast to the Ottomans, Sweden and Russia had grown their power in favour of military and diplomacy. Rather than Sweden, especially Russia under the authority of “Peter I” (Crazy Peter or Peter the Great), through occupying prominent castles located on the shores of the Black Sea, it doubled its hegemony completely in the early 18th century. On the other hand, Sweden was under the command of “Emperor Charles XII.” It was struggling in order to save the Empire from the Great Northern War, which started in 1699. Even within this chaotic horizon and extreme consumption of military and economic commodities, however, Ottomans under “Ahmed III,” Russians under “Peter I,” and Sweden under the command of “Charles XII.” opened the gates of which led the Pruth River war to happen in 1711. To sum up, one of the crucial wars which affected the Ottoman Empire, Sweden, Russian Tsardom, and Europe was the Pruth River War in 1711.

• Road to Pruth River Campaign: the causes that prepared the war

                        The Great Northern War started in 1699, which was the same year that Karlowitz was agreed by the members of the Great Turkish War. In spite of the variety of the “Coalition” (Russia, Denmark-Norway Kingdom, Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth and Electorate of Saxony), Sweden demonstrated a powerful performance and defeated Russians under the command of Peter I. in “Narva War” that Russian army was vanquished by Swedens definitely in 1700. However, instead of following and vanishing the remains of the Russian military, which was led by Peter I, as an enthusiastic and young Emperor Charles XII, changed the direction of the army from Russians to Polish-Lithuanians throughout seven years. Within those years, the puppet of Charles XII, Stanisław Leszczyński, took power in Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth while Russian Tsardom sophisticated its army and force. After these incidents, after nearly seven years, the Russian Tsardom and Sweden Empire fought each other in the Poltava region (Ukraine), and the Swedish army was destroyed by the highly sophisticated new Russian army under the conduct of German officers. The manifestation of the “Poltava War” collapsed the resistance of Swedish dominance in favour of the hostiles of Charles XII. Because of the defeat, Charles XII was taken as a refugee by the Ottoman Empire in “Ochakiv Castle” (Ukraine), which prepared the road that opened the Pruth River War in 1711.

Moreover, according to the Istanbul Agreement in 1700, Russian Empire can keep an ambassador in Istanbul. However, this matter did not mean that Russian political affairs could intervene the Ottoman authority towards orthodox-slav people in the Balkans. In addition, the invasion of the Russian army to the Ottoman territories in order to defeat another Swedish group, which was also beaten by the Russian military, was another casus belli for declaring war completely. Even the trigger for Ahmed III by Charles XII was another reason for launching warfare towards the Russian Tsardom. Eventually, in order to resurrect the dominance of the Ottoman Empire beyond the Black Sea, through recapturing Azov Castle and as a response to Charles XII & elites who wanted to clash Russians, Ahmed III declared war against Russian Tsardom after ten years in 1710. To sum up, these incidents caused the Pruth River War to happen finally.

• General inquiry: Interpretation about Baltacı Mehmed’s circumstance

  

       In the Ottoman tradition, the Sultan always controlled the army and gained the “Gazi Hükümdar” (War Veteran) title for their honor. However, after the Suleiman I, Ottoman Sultans generally did not eager to conduct his army, instead of staying in Istanbul. Because of this situation, contemporary Ottoman Grand Vizier “Baltaci Mehmed Pasha” was selected as “Serdar-ı Ekrem”(Head of the army” by Ahmed III and sent to Ukraine to destroy Russian forces under the command of Peter I. The ongoing process of warfare was quite problematic for Ottoman side in terms of decision-making. When the Ottoman Army arrived in the Pruth River, the Russian army was surrounded. Thanks to this beneficial situation, Ottoman elite, Crimean Khan Devlet Giray II and Charles XII wanted to force Russian troops to starve and attack whenever their resistance collapsed. In terms of this perspective, the tactic that was submitted by these gentlemen was substantially reasonable. However, according to Baltacı Mehmed Pasha’s idea, the reliability of the Janissary army was quite low, and with a sudden attack from the Russian Cavalries, the Ottoman army could be distracted and defeated by the Russian army. With a deep analysis, the Janissary army had rebelled the Ottoman Empire from “Jalali rebellions” in Anatolia, which damaged Ottomans negatively. Therefore, questioning the Janissary problem was appropriate. Moreover, the gossip about the relations between “Catherina I” and Baltacı Meh-

med is actually nonsense because Peter I himself sent Russian commander Seremetiyev to make the peace treatment twice for saving himself and  relinquishing every principle he desired. Although the arguments of the Crimean Khan and Charles XII, Baltaci Mehmed Pasha decided to make a peace agreement, “Treaty of Pruth,” with Russia. Even though it was seen as a victory and recapturing of the northern coast of the Black Sea, Ottoman elite in Istanbul blamed Baltaci Mehmed for not attacking and not capturing the Peter I. , though it was highly possible. Thus, Baltaci Mehmed was dismissed by Sultan Ahmed III, although he congratulated him at first. 

• Aftermath: the results of the Pruth River War

      To begin with, the results of the Pruth River Campaign and Treaty of Pruth were highly effective for the reconstruction of the Ottoman dominance the throughout Eurasian continent. The principles of the Istanbul agreement, which ensured Russia to consist of diplomatic ascendancy regarding Istanbul and Balkan societies, were dismissed. Furthermore, the retake of Azov castle located in today’s Ukraine, shelved the desire to arrive at “warm waters” (Meditteranean, Aegean Sea, Atlantic Ocean..) of  Russian Tsardom. Also, the recapturing of Azov interrupted the commerce affiliations of the Russian Tsardom which made Russia get damaged in terms of economy and trade. Secondly, the intensification of the Ottoman competence upon Balkan societies would be anticipated, because dismissal of Russian missionaries from orthodox-slavic communities assisted Ottomans to assert “Ottoman Tolerance” (Istimalet Policy)* towards them. Persisting of secureness in internal affairs provided Ottoman authority to supervise external diplomacy more. In conclusion, the consequences of the Pruth River war and the Treaty of Pruth were quite impactful for the resurrection of the Ottoman power throughout the Eurasian continent. 

*”Istimalet Policy was kind of a tactic that Ottomans behaved and approached unmuslim communities with lots of tolerance which generally ensures the loyatly from them. ”

 

• Conclusion

        Eventually, The Pruth River War was one of the crucial wars which affected the Ottoman Empire, Sweden, Russian Tsardom, and Europe. The powerful authority of the Ottoman Empire was proved, and the Ottoman hegemony was demonstrated to Europe once again. However, the strong authority structure of the Russian Tsardom and the weakness of the Swedish Empire at the end of the Great Northern War did not collapse Russian dominance, although she lost the war. In a long time process, Russian Empire would have empowered herself while Ottoman authority was weakening.

-Bibliography;

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2. Finkel, Caroline. “Osman’s Dream: The History of the Ottoman Empire”, United States/NY: Basic Books, 2006.
3. https://islamansiklopedisi.org.tr
4. https://www.britannica.com/topic/Russo-Turkish-wars
5. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pruth_River_Campaign
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